Post by account_disabled on Feb 25, 2024 1:08:25 GMT -6
Harvesting electricity from clean energy sources is attractive for sustainable energy systems. Electrical power generation from water is receiving increasing attention due to the enormous amount of clean energy embodied.
At a time when energy is a critical issue for many millions of people around the world, scientists in Sweden have managed to harvest electricity by passing water through refined wood .
Developed by researchers at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, the new method focuses on what happens naturally after wood is placed in water and the water evaporates. Transpiration, a process in which water moves through a plant, occurs constantly in na C Level Executive List ture. The process also produces small amounts of electricity, known as bioelectricity.
According to the KTH researchers, with some wood nanoengineering and pH adjustment, small but promising amounts of electricity can now be harvested.
Current wood-based water evaporation-assisted power generation is influenced by several factors, such as area, porosity (density), surface charge, ease with which water can pass through the material, and solution. of water itself. By altering the nanoscale composition of the wood, the researchers improved the wood's properties.
“We have compared the porous structure of normal wood with the material that we have improved in terms of surface, porosity, surface charge and water transport. We have measured electricity generation ten times that of natural wood,” says Yuanyuan Li, associate professor at KTH Biocomposites Division.
She says that further adjusting the pH difference between wood and water, due to an ion concentration gradient, achieves a potential of up to one volt and a remarkable power output of 1.35 microwatts per square centimeter.
“At the moment, we can run small devices like an LED lamp or a calculator,” Li says. “If we wanted to power a laptop, we would need about a square meter of wood, about a centimeter thick, and about two liters of water. For a normal home, we would need much more than that, so more research is needed.”
To date, wood has managed to deliver high voltage for about 2 to 3 hours before it begins to decay, she says. So far, the wood has passed ten cycles with water without any decrease in the material's performance.
“The big advantage of this technology is that wood can easily be used for other purposes once it is exhausted as an energy source, such as transparent paper, wood-based foam, and different biocomposites,” says Li.
At a time when energy is a critical issue for many millions of people around the world, scientists in Sweden have managed to harvest electricity by passing water through refined wood .
Developed by researchers at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, the new method focuses on what happens naturally after wood is placed in water and the water evaporates. Transpiration, a process in which water moves through a plant, occurs constantly in na C Level Executive List ture. The process also produces small amounts of electricity, known as bioelectricity.
According to the KTH researchers, with some wood nanoengineering and pH adjustment, small but promising amounts of electricity can now be harvested.
Current wood-based water evaporation-assisted power generation is influenced by several factors, such as area, porosity (density), surface charge, ease with which water can pass through the material, and solution. of water itself. By altering the nanoscale composition of the wood, the researchers improved the wood's properties.
“We have compared the porous structure of normal wood with the material that we have improved in terms of surface, porosity, surface charge and water transport. We have measured electricity generation ten times that of natural wood,” says Yuanyuan Li, associate professor at KTH Biocomposites Division.
She says that further adjusting the pH difference between wood and water, due to an ion concentration gradient, achieves a potential of up to one volt and a remarkable power output of 1.35 microwatts per square centimeter.
“At the moment, we can run small devices like an LED lamp or a calculator,” Li says. “If we wanted to power a laptop, we would need about a square meter of wood, about a centimeter thick, and about two liters of water. For a normal home, we would need much more than that, so more research is needed.”
To date, wood has managed to deliver high voltage for about 2 to 3 hours before it begins to decay, she says. So far, the wood has passed ten cycles with water without any decrease in the material's performance.
“The big advantage of this technology is that wood can easily be used for other purposes once it is exhausted as an energy source, such as transparent paper, wood-based foam, and different biocomposites,” says Li.